Guild Wars 2 Ranger Pets

In Guild Wars 2, pets will be the defining aspect of the Ranger profession. While there are other professions that have pets, each profession uses their pets in a different way. Rangers are the only profession with nameable, controllable and fully customisable pets. Don't worry though, you don't have to feed, groom or clean up after these pets!

You can set your pet to aggressive, defensive, or passive mode overall, as well as giving specific "heel", "stay" and "attack" commands which is a great feature to avoid unintentional aggros and pet-induced pulls.

The ranger still charms pets into joining him as faithful companions in the same way as they did in the original Guild Wars, however in GW2 you get to choose between three different pets right from the start with those choices varying according to your race.

Moa birds, Spiders, Lizards, Wolves and Bears are once again available to charm but there are also some new additions in Guild Wars 2 including the Snow Leopard, Drakes, Devourer and the first water-based pet, the Shark! As terrestrial pets can't go underwater, this will be a popular companion when exploring the aquatic areas of Guild Wars 2.

Calling down some feathered friends to help... "Hunter's Call" in action...

Pets have a very specific role to play and a different set of skills and abilities to complement that role. Depending on the situation and / or party structure the ranger finds themselves in, they may choose a bear who's good at tanking, a Moa bird who's a good support pet or a snow leopard who's a good damage pet.

A Guild Wars 2 ranger has three active pet slots and can switch the pets at any time so long as they're outside of combat. Normally only one pet can be active at any time, though the elite skill "Alpha Strike" brings out all three pets for a short period of time.

The base damage, armor and health of a pet are based on the level of their owner. Pets don't have armor slots. Newly charmed pets automatically level to the level of their owner so if you get to level 50 and you want to go get a new type of pet, you don't have to spend time levelling that pet.

Barrage Pet Ranger Guild Wars 2 style!

In Guild Wars 2 the ranger must charm juvenile versions of whichever pet they want and, while pets still have "Evolution Levels", it's a little different to what we got used to in the original Guild Wars. In GW2, each pet has twenty Evolution Levels, which progressively give the pet passive abilities as well as unlocking up to four skill slots. Pet skills can then be slotted in to give the pet more abilites. One thing to note is that every pet has all of its skills available at evolution level 1. You just need to unlock all four slots to have four skills equipped at the same time.

Each pet type has different abilities. For example, the Moa bird is a support pet that uses a variety of "squawks" that buff teammates. These squawks are slotted into the skill slots and as your pet evolves you can slot more of them. The player can't activate individual pet skills, which are managed by the AI, however, the player can send commands to his pet. The combination of the commands and the pet modes define the pet's behavior.

Guild Wars 2 rangers will also have the choice to use some of their personal skill slots to make their pets even more effective. For example, rangers might bring "Heal as One" in their healing skill slot, which heals both the ranger and his pet but is a less effective self heal than he might otherwise bring. A player is free to change any skills the pet uses whenever they are outside of combat.

Pets don't have any finishing moves or downed skills. Once it's downed, you, or anyone else, can revive a pet, which is generally done at melee range, but there are skills you can slot to revive your pet at range. If you are defeated, your pet will pop back to the waypoint with you when you revive.

There's enough pet action to keep any Beastmaster happy in Guild Wars 2, but choosing which beasts to master may be the key!